Newspaper Page Text
National
Day of
Prayer
May 4
Page 2B
Thursday, May 4, 2023 | Volume 136 Number 3 | Jasper, Georgia | 22 pages, 2 sections | Published Weekly
Jasper city hall swindled out of $150,000
in elaborate e-mail/ wire transfer scam
Criminals intercepted
e-mails, posed as Cherokee
water authority employees
and had payment diverted
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
Friday the Progress filed an open records re
quest with the Jasper Police Department for a re
port regarding the city of Jasper being the victim
of a scam. According to the report provided by
Jasper Police, the city lost $150,000 in an in
volved email and wire transfer scam.
This was not the usual random e-mail seeking
funds or a fake message. In this case, someone
hacked either a city hall e-mail or that of the
Cherokee Water & Sewer Authority and then
used specific information regarding legitimate in
voices and water agreements to have Jasper’s
payment diverted to their account.
The city’s finance director told officers that on
March 31 an email sent from the city to the
Cherokee County Water & Sewer Authority (CC-
SWSA) ‘‘was interrupted by someone, and ad
vised that the Cherokee Water Authority no
longer took checks as payments and advised a
routing and account number to wire the funds to.”
The city of Jasper is a member of CCWSA and
did make a recent agreement to pay $150,000 to
purchase additional water at a wholesale rate.
The city wired the $150,000 payment to a
bank with a Seventh Avenue, New York, NY ad
dress. Within a few days after the $150,000 was
sent, the police report states someone with
CCWSA contacted the city because they had not
received their payment.
The Jasper Police would not comment on the
case beyond providing the incident report.
The Progress contacted Jasper City Assistant
Manager Kim Goldener for more details about
the scam, as well as protocols they have in place
for large payments such as these.
Goldener explained the city had been emailing
back and forth with CCWSA to increase their
daily capacity before CCWSA implemented a
higher fee schedule. CCWSA emailed the city a
legitimate invoice for the $150,000, which they
required to be paid prior to April 1.
“After the invoice was sent to us, we received
another email from the same group of folks at
CCWSA indicating that instead of a check for
payment, they were moving to a system of wire
transfers for payment,” Goldener said.
The Progress asked the See Scam on 11A
Carroll
County
schools
veteran
finalist for
supt. job
here
Dr. Travis Thomas was cho
sen by the board of education
from a crowded field to lead
the school district.
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
In a brief meeting with no
ticeable enthusiasm from the
board, Dr. Travis Thomas, a 25
year veteran of the Carroll
County school system, was
named the sole finalist for su
perintendent here Monday.
There is a 14-day public
comment period underway be
fore Thomas will be officially
hired.
During board comments,
Steve Lowe said he hopes
Thomas’ hiring as the top person
in the system will end a long
standing “crisis in leadership,”
adding there has been a lot of
turnover in board members and
superintendents in recent years.
Lowe said the board has
heard from students and teach
ers and they aim to bring stabil
ity to the school system.
“We need professional and
ethical leadership,” Lowe said.
“We have vetted him well. I be
lieve he is that man.”
Board member Joe Wiging-
ton said he looks forward to see
ing new things coming to the
system and he thanked Thomas
for coming here.
Thomas, who attended the
meeting, made some remarks in
cluding that first impressions
mean a lot and he first visited
here several years ago when one
of his sons was playing high
school tennis and came here for
a match. Thomas said he was
immediately impressed by the
high school facilities.
Among other attractive ele
ments here he cited is the single
high school which creates auto
matic alignment and unity in a
community.
“I am excited to work with
the stakeholders of Pickens
County to keep moving things
forward,” he said. Following the
meeting Thomas shook hands
and introduced himself to top
See Supt. on 11A
Doggy Diva, and a bunch of friends
enjoy a day to Bark in the Park
photo/Eli Galligan
Sparkles the Diva (@sparklesthe- The fun day was sponsored by
diva), who has more than 81,000 Partners of Pickens Pets Inc, and
TikTok followers, brought some of featured local businesses and local
her diva presence to the Bark in the dog advocacy groups.
Park Saturday. With live music, a bouncy house,
With perfect weather in the morn- and a variety of fun games it truly
ing, both four-footed and human at- was an event the entire family en-
tendees were out in big numbers joyed.
filling up Lee Newton Park. See more photos on Page l oB.
Survey shows Roper Park most popular;
Walking trails most desired feature
MOST POPULAR PARKS IN PICKENS
Lee Newton Park
Jasper City Park
Roper Park
Poris Wigmgton Park
Talking Rock City Park
Nelson City Parks
Talking Rock
Nature Preserve
Purnt Mtn. Preserve
Eagles Rest
23 (38.3%)
3 (5%)
| 10 (16%)
| 5(8.3%)
4 (6.7%)
An online survey conducted by the Progress last week asked which parks here people used. It also found
that additional basic walking trails were what most people want to see added. More than one park could be se
lected. Look for future surveys tied to local news on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
A survey of Progress readers re
cently conducted online about parks
in Pickens County found that Roper
and Lee Newton parks are the most
widely used, and that the most desired
enhancements are walking trails, pic
nic tables and playground equipment.
The multi-question survey saw
over 60 responses, with several peo
ple offering lengthy input about
changes and improvements they
would like to see. In a separate,
shorter poll on Instagram that asked if
people use parks in Pickens County at
all, 64 percent said yes with 34 per
cent responding no.
Among respondents in the longer
survey, nearly 62 percent said they
use Roper Park; 55 percent use Lee
Newton Park; and 48 percent visit
Jasper City Park (known locally as
“The Duck Pond); 38 percent use
Talking Rock City Park, nearly 17
percent use the Talking Rock Nature
Preserve; 10 percent use Doris Wig-
ington; and a marginal number who
use Burnt Mountain Preserve hiking
trails and Eagles Rest Park on
Oglethorpe S eeParkson8A
Colorful
visitors
spotted at
Bent Tree
bird feeder
Page 3A
Home & Garden
Burn Ban in
effect for
N. Ga.
Details on
Page 5A
Obituaries 9A
• Carolyn Beck
• Trevor Buchanan
• Rebekah Buchanan
• Russell Burger
• Rita Miller
• Bonnie Satterfield
• Susan Shealey
• Ray Strickland
• Jessie Suggs Jr.
• Agayla Young
Contact Us
94 North Main Street
Jasper, Ga. 30143
706-253-2457
pickensprogress.com
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